Recently, the Lasso team got together with B3 Communications to have an "in-house" Christmas party. Fun was had by all and we even had a special guest make a surprise visit (oddly enough, there are no pictures of Dave Betcher . . . hmmmm, where was he?)
Santa brought along some holiday cheer and a fun gift for everyone.
We are pleased that each member of our team made contributions to the local food bank with Lasso equally matching the donations - a small way we can help those who are less fortunate at this special time of the year.
Happy holidays to all! We look forward to a great year in 2010!
Note: For real estate sales and marketing professionals looking for a way to create similar videos - check out www.photoshow.com. They make it easy for you to create great-looking memorable videos.
A Vancouver Real Estate Blog recently posted an interesting video showing how IKEA used facebook (successfully) and created an engaged and interested following.
Updated Comment: The link below has been removed. To watch the video created by Forsman & Bodenfors, go to YouTube or register and view online at www.creativityonline.com.
The question was posed - think Real Estate Project Marketing - how could home builders and developers use the same concept and see success?
- Do you see people tagging themselves in pictures of show homes and display centers? Telling you what they like best about the project. Which display suite suits their style? All their facebook friends would see the picture (of your project).
- Do you run a contest to let everyone who tags themselves in pictures have the opportunity to win something? (again, everyone in these people's circle of friends will see the pictures and learn of the contest). Imagine the traffic that could generate to your sales center!
Maybe you can think of other ways this can be successful. The point is traditional ways to market real estate projects may not be as effective today as they were in the past. Thinking social, thinking viral and thinking outside the box is important for success.
I showed this video to a friend who has not jumped on the social media band-wagon and has dug his heels in a bit when it comes to facebook - his first response when I asked him about the application to real estate was these people probably wouldn't necessarily be considered a target for the real estate project. Good point, but maybe one of the 130 friends that many of these facebook gurus have will be interested . . . it goes viral, there is no better way to spread the word.
What is the risk? There is risk, there always is, but if you plan it out and consider your options, you can minimize it and really have some fun. You may be surprised - this approach to marketing may just bring you a great ROI.
And, just to provide a little more ammunition for coming up with a facebook strategy - the fastest growing demographic group on facebook is the over 35 group!
Let us know what you think.
One of Lasso's key technology partners is PEER 1. They are a leading global provider of data center services with HQ in Vancouver, BC.
Peer 1 provides us with world class data co-location services that keeps our extensive server farm secure and up and running to serve our homebuilders and developers worldwide. PEER 1 is celebrating their 10th Anniversary this month. Always looking for a reason to have cake in the office, we thought we'd celebrate their milestone with a birthday celebration.
Have a look at our "Happy Birthday" message to PEER 1:
To view pictures of our event, see them on flickr.
We know that over 75% of new home buyers are shopping around on the internet to find new homes and that now more than ever it's time to really focus on your web presence - blogging, press releases, facebook, Twitter, and link-building - are all key in improving your position for keyword searches that consumers use on Google, Yahoo! and bing/MSN. Getting found is important! It's a bit daunting as to where to even begin.
Earlier this year, we wrote about Hubspot - a company that helps provide organizations with tools to assist with online marketing initiatives. They have created free grader tools that can provide you with some valuable information about your website, your Twitter profile, your blog and even your press releases (my favourite is the "gobbly-gook" grader that looks at meaningless words that we all use!) All good stuff when it comes to launching a new project site or evaluating an existing site. New Home Marketing and Sales has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. Marketing approaches (and expenditures) that worked a few years ago just aren't getting the same impact today. It's clear to us that inbound marketing is the way to go in fact it has become strategic to homebuider marketing and sales success.
Let us know what you think!
One of the purposes of this blog is to provide our readers with some cool technologies and information that we feel will help them with New Home Marketing and Sales. Each month, we post new links to either software sites or informational sites that we have found useful.
Following is a "round-up" of our lists over the last few months.
Please check them out . . .
- RSS in Plain English - want to better understand RSS? View this brief video from Common Craft.
- Web Ink Now - Online thought leadership by David Meerman Scott
- Techsmith - Creators of Snagit, screen capture software
- Facebook business page - how to create a Facebook business page
- Seth Godin - one of the most popular blogs in the world
- Xobni - drowning in email? Check out this Outlook add-on
- Marketing Profs - it's a rich resource that offers actionable know-how to help you market your products and services better
- What's a Moo Card? - these simple cards are the latest craze for handing out your contact information
- Adobe Photoshop Express - something free from Adobe - create and store photo libraries
- Eyejot - send video messages via email
- Sender's Time Zone - are you sending email to people all over the world? This Outlook add-on will show the time zones of your email contacts
- Twine - collect online content and keep track of your interests
Do you have a favourite application or website that you would like to share? Let us know. We'd love to hear about it.
"Just ‘Snagit'." Those are the words I heard when I sat in on a Lasso client training session. Our trainer proceeded to explain that using an inexpensive software application called Snagit allowed the client to capture the Inventory Availability Board in Lasso quickly and easily. Curiousity got the better of me and I went ahead and downloaded the application. Perhaps it's the little things in life that get me excited but I haven't looked back. This great application from TechSmith is well worth the cost (about $50). I use it daily to capture images. You can "snag" a full screen (including links) off the internet or just capture something specific on your screen. Once you've got the image you want, you can then use the Snagit editor to make changes - highlight areas, use shapes, colour, text, etc.; then save it as a PDF or JPG file. You can even create basic images from scratch. It's much easier to use (and less expensive) than some of the other photo editing and image software tools out there. One word of caution, I haven't found it works as well in Firefox as it does in IE, but try it out (you can download a trial version for free). Before you know it, you'll be telling others to just "Snagit".
Almost every developer is in varying stages of trying to leverage ‘inbound internet marketing' --- getting quality traffic to your website --- via that sometimes confusing and complex combination of website search optimization (SEO), blogging and social media. In their quest to get found by quality leads, many builders use disparate approaches to each and regularly spend substantially on external expert agencies; with varying degrees of success, but much too often with mixed or little concrete results.
Enter HubSpot.
In short, HubSpot offers:
- A very informative website, sort of like Inbound Marketing 101, that provides clear and easy to understand information and white papers about internet marketing. For both the novice and the more sophisticated.
- A website and keyword grader that quickly evaluates your company or project website.
- Search optimization, that can be done internally by marketing (no techie required), that focuses on driving traffic & leads organically more than by paid search techniques.
- A blog format that is easy to get going (please note the functionality for community forums is limited).
- A framework that comes with valuable advice for effectively participating in social media.
- At Lasso, we use HubSpot and have found their knowledge and advice helpful, friendly and prompt.
Taking 15-20 minutes to visit their website should be a most rewarding experience. And please let us know what you think.
Welcome to our blog. It seems there are a myriad of blogs everywhere today. Some I read and think "that was great". Good value. I even tell other people (viral marketing at work). Some blogs I read and say why did I that read? And unsubscribe!
A blog for me is like reading anything else; it needs to inform and add some value (or least make me smile). So first, let's tell you what the Lasso blog will not try to be:
- Our blog won't try to tell you how to sell real estate (we eat, breathe and sleep technology for real estate, but we don't profess to be real estate sales or sales management gurus).
- Our blog won't try to offer you the hottest new development project or the best deal on the market. (Promise we won't try to sell you any real estate, but we may direct you to what we think is a good information portal).
- We won't make this an advertisement for Lasso (if we can't provide you with a nugget or two of valuable information on every post chances are you likely won't come back).
What our blog will try to offer you:
- We will offer you insights, thoughts and suggestions about how technology helps people and business be more successful in marketing, selling and customer service for new home real estate.
- We will share with you some best practices and real life success stories on the subject.
- We will direct you to some cool technologies that may not be household names, but may help you in your business or everyday life - check out Snagit! we think this simple product is neat - effective, easy and affordable. Let us know what you think.
- The blog will be a venue for Lasso users to give us feedback on how we are doing and to also input, rate and vote on new features and functions.
- The blog will evolve to connect our users directly in forums so they can share the ‘how to's and success stories' in a community environment.
I really hope our blog will be useful for you and look forward to hearing from you about your thoughts and your suggestions to make it better.